City of Perry appoints Mitchell Worthington as new Assistant City Manager

PERRY — From Finance Director to Assistant City Manager, Mitchell Worthington has worked up the ranks in the City of Perry. 

At the Feb. 17 city council meeting, Mayor Randall Walker and the council approved Worthington’s appointment to his new role, and he is excited to begin. 

He shared that he has lived in the city since 2018 and has raised all his children in Perry. 

“[I’m] really looking forward to what’s going on with the city and happy to lend my hand and to keep progress moving forward,” he said. 

With his father in the Army, Worthington has traveled far and wide. His family considers Cedartown, Ga. their home, since that is where he attended both middle and high school. 

After graduating from high school, he attended Mercer University, which brought him to the middle Georgia area. He received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Business Administration from Mercer. 

Worthington shared that he unfortunately graduated during the 2008 recession, so there weren’t many job opportunities. However, he was eventually offered an accounting job at the Middle Georgia Regional Commission at the time. 

He had no intent to go into government, but he had to work where he could. Worthington worked for the commission for six years, serving in various financial roles. There, he learned about local government, grant management and accounting. 

Afterwards, he served as a Budget Analyst for the City of Roswell. His main focus was on the Environmental Public Works and Transportation departments. Worthington gained extensive experience in capital and infrastructure planning in those departments. 

In 2018, he moved to the City of Perry as an Assistant Finance Director. A year later, he was promoted to Finance Director. 

As Finance Director, he oversaw the day-to-day operations of the Finance Department, including accounting, purchasing, customer service and utility billing, and management of the city’s annual audit. 

He also coordinated with the City Manager and department heads. Worthington directed the development of the city’s annual budget, which ensured spending aligned with the mayor and council’s strategic goals. 

Now, he has been promoted to Assistant City Manager. 

“I feel like I’m very familiar with what’s going on in the City of Perry with all the growth that’s going on and what we need to do to keep the infrastructure being improved and preserve the great quality of life we have here,” he said. 

Worthington explained his new role, saying the city manager’s office is the city’s executive position. He said they are charged with keeping the city’s day-to-day operations running. While the mayor and city council set policy, the city manager’s office implements it.

Day-to-day operations are managed by current City Manager Robert Smith, and the Assistant City Manager is an extension of that position. 

“The city is growing tremendously over the last 10 to 15 years and just to have a single person in that executive role becomes a lot of work,” he said. 

Worthington shared that several years ago, the mayor and council adopted a strategic plan. He said he has been familiar with the city and what’s going on, and that he aims to continue to stay informed. 

“My goal is to just keep moving the city forward, make sure that we stick to that strategic plan [and] update it when needed; really just enact the vision that mayor and council see for this city,” he said. 

Worthington also said he is humbled to be appointed to the position and looks forward to continuing to serve the community. 

“[We’re] making sure that we preserve the sense of community that we have here and the quality of life we have here at the city. [I’m] really looking forward to continuing my service for them,” he said.